Heart Academy
by Nuttycheychey
Summary: (AU) Alice is sent as a student to Heart Academy, a school for students all around the globe. Would the constant culture clashing and just plain insanity of the students and staff screw up her brain and drive her away? Or will Alice be able (and more importantly willing) to return again next year?
1. Chapter 1

"Alice! Come down stairs, we're having breakfast!" Lorina knocked insistently on her younger sister's door.

"Later! It's still summer." The brunette protested and turned onto her side, pulling the blanket over her head.

"There's a letter here for you, from The Ambassador Program!"

Alice jumped out of bed and opened the door, she snatched the letter right out of her sister's hands and tore into it. "Wait!" Lorina stopped her from grabbing it. "Come down stairs and read it! We're all just as eager!"

"Did you get one too?"

"Yes!" She gave her a nervous look and took the letter back. "Get dressed!"

Alice nodded and shut the door. She changed into a pair of grey sweats with a pink tank top, her appearance didn't matter right now. She scrubbed her teeth, finger combed her hair and put it in a messy bun then scrambled down the stairs to the kitchen where her step-mother, father, and two sisters greeted her.

"Open your letter Lorina!" Her step-mother insisted. The eldest opened the letter and read aloud,

"Dear Lorina Liddell,

Your application for the student ambassador program has been reviewed and approved. However your selected location of London, England was not available. However; your second application was. I am proud to announce that you will be representing your country in Tokyo, Japan at the school of Tokyo International School. For further information please read the second letter enclosed, feel free to call if you have any need for help. We are honored that you chose our program and wish you luck!

Sincerely,

Director Marian."

Lorina gave a slight scream and hugged Edith and Alice, both of which happened to be the closest victims. They celebrated a moment with a round of orange juice before Alice removed her letter from the envelope.

"Dear Alice Liddell,

Your application for the student ambassador program has been reviewed and approved. I am proud to announce that you will be representing your country in Yokohama, Japan at Heart Academy. For further information please read the second letter enclosed, feel free to call if you have any need for help. We are honored that you chose our program and wish you luck!

Sincerely,

Director Marian."

Another round of orange juice went around and Alice was pulled into more hugs.

"Alice! We're a half hour drive from each other!" Lorina grinned. "This will be amazing!"

"But we're going to stay at different schools, Lorina."

"We'll meet up on the weekends!" Alice smiled, her big sister could never find the faults, unlike negative her.


	2. Chapter 2

Nearly three weeks after recieving their letters the two sisters boarded a plane to Tokyo, Japan where they would then be picked up along with the rest of the Student Ambassadors and taken to their designated and Lorina gave each other a hug goodbye before Alice left to join her group.

A man with stubble on his chin, dark red eyes and messy red hair with a long braid in the back stood outside the bus, ushering the twelve kids to stand around. "Listen up kiddies!" He said with a fluent Southern Texas drawl. "Ya'll are going ta Heart Academy, that's Hātoakademī in Japanese. It's a thirty-five minute drive an' I don' wan' no trouble from you lot! You're mommas ain't here to clean up after ya so you're responsible! Same with the bus! You mess it, you clean it!" He motioned to a young man with black-gray hair and yellow eyes. "This is Gray Ringmarc! He's the Captain of the Archery Team and he's representing the Clover Dormitories. The rest of the representatives are on the bus. Save your questions for them. You are allowed to eat your lunches on the bus so long as ya don't make a mess. Your luggage is already on the way up! Get movin'!" He jabbed a thumb at the bus. The majority of the kids scrambled to grab one of the sack lunches provided and run onto the bus, eager for a window seat.

Alice grabbed a sack lunch and boarded the bus. Just her luck. The only available seat was in the back and it wasn't a window. With a sigh she plopped down next the the blue haired blue eyed man. He had a stoic expression, glaring out at the summer weather. In his lap was a notebook and a black ink pen. He wore the same dark blue uniform with green and gold trim as Gray had.

He said nothing to her. Looking for a way to break the ice so to speak, she opened the lunch sack and looked around just as the bus started to leave. Finding a small sealed container, she removed the top and offered it to him. "Carrot stick?" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"We ate while we waited." He answered and looked back out the window.

"Oh. Sorry." Well that went well. After a pause she smiled at him and offered her hand. "I'm Alice Liddell."

He bowed his head. "I am Julius Monrey, a representative of the Clover Dormitory." He went silent again.

"So what are we doing when we get there?"

"You'll be separated into groups by dorm and gender. One representative will take each of you to your rooms where your things will be waiting for you." He didn't even look at her.

"Who's in your group?"

"The Girls for Clover."

"Oh. So what is the school like?"

"Why do you keep bugging me?"

She was about to answer when a new, cheery voice from behind interrupted her.

"Oh lighten up Julie-chan!" A red arm draped over the man's shoulder. "Let her be curious!" The boy turned to look at her. "I'm Ace! Julius's best friend! I represent the Heart Dormitory!"

"Don't touch me Ace." Julius grabbed Ace's arm and removed it from his shoulder.

"You're such a bore Julius! You need to be more active! The Volleyball team would love to have your quick reflexes!"

"No."

"You're just scared you'd trip and hurt yourself."

"I'm not majorly athletic and you know that."

"You'd rather wave that stick of your's around!"

"The shinai is not a stick, Ace! And Kendo is a serious art!"

"You do Kendo? What's that?"

"Traditional Japanese sword sparring! Julius has taken our team to state for three years now!" Ace raised his arms, pretending to hold the sword.

A dark red stain came to the Clover Representative's cheeks. "Shut up you idiot!" He growled, fist going back in an attempt to strike him. The younger easily caught his arm.

"Ouch! I sure feel loved!" He laughed and began tugging the man's cheek with his free hand. "Give her a smile Julie-chan!"

The hand was batted away. "Ace Heart, I swear, if you keep this up I will clobber you here and now!" That only seemed to egg him on. The two continued to verbally fight with Ace still attempting to tug the other man's cheek and Julius struggling to either pull away or hit him and Alice attempting to break up the fight.

"Such a disgusting display!" The three paused and turned to look at the purple haired girl who spoke. "You men are positively humiliating. Heart, leave Monrey alone!"

The child-like Ace gave Julius's cheek another tug. "And what if I don't?"

The woman glared at him. "Do you really want to incur my wrath, Ace-kun?"

He laughed and was about to make a reply when Alice cut in. "Ace-san," She added the honorific in hopes that he would not be offended. "I think Julius-san has had enough. Can you please stop tormenting him? We still have a lot more driving and to be honest, while it was fun at first, it's become rather annoying."

Ace immediately sobered up. "Oh! Well, if that's how you feel, I'll stop for now." He gave her a smile and a thumbs up, finally releasing Julius.

"Thank you Ace!" The "for now" part had her a little concerned, but she wasn't about to go around trying to change people. Besides, this man seemed set in his ways. Julius gave her a grateful nod and the rest of the trip was fairly quiet.


	3. Chapter 3

The school was made of twelve buildings, four of which were connected to one in the center. Gray explained that those five buildings were the dormitories and the one they connected to was the dining hall, recreation rooms, and the study hall. Five were buildings dedicated to various subjects. The Arts, Languages, Math, Science, and Physical activity. There was also a library for students and teachers. The last building was an assembly hall where students gathered for school assemblies.

The red haired man, named Gowland as Alice had learned on the ride, read off a list of names and directed everyone to their representative. She sighed and walked up to Julius, half tempted to say something, but she didn't want to start anything. Once they were all sorted he led them through the halls and toward the girl dormitories while Gray took the boys down the left hall.

"Your names are on the doors, you each have a separate room, your luggage is waiting for you. You have two hours before supper so wash up, take a nap, unpack, and try to get rid of any jet lag you may still be feeling. If you have any questions you can ask some of the other girls, most of them speak English, or you can come down stairs to the Clover Commons and ask one of the representatives. Do I need to repeat myself?"

No one answered, much to the bluenette's relief.

"In the morning you will be given your schedules before breakfast, please study them as best you can and prepare for classes on Monday. In the meantime you may take a look at the clubs and decide if you want to join one and which. All fees for the exchange students are paid in advance by the school so you don't have to worry about that. If you want to earn money while here you may take up a part time job as a janitor, gardener, or a student aid to a teacher. Any questions?"

"What about weekends? Are we allowed to go somewhere?"

"Every day there are busses that come to Heart Academy. If you would like to leave for a few hours you can find bus schedules in the main office and take one somewhere else. The gates close at ten o'clock and open again at seven in the morning so if you go out be sure to return by then."

"What about dates?" One girl shouted, causing the others to giggle.

". . . I wouldn't know much about that."

"I can teach you!" Another girl shouted.

Julius blushed and coughed into his fist to regain himself. "Ladies, please." He begged. "There are several places on campus where you can go, Yokohama is a five minute drive, ten to fifteen minute walk from here. You are more than welcome to go so long as you go as a group-." The groaning of the girls cut him off. "And your dorm leader knows where you are."

"Who's our drom leader?"

"That's dorm leader, not drom." Was his first answer. "His name is Nightmare Gottschalk. He was an exchange student from Germany before moving to Japan. You'll get to meet him before bed tonight."

"What about the other dormitories?"

"For Heart, the dorm leader is Vivaldi Dupre, her younger brother, Blood Dupre is the leader for Spade, and Crysta Snowpigeon is the leader for Diamond. You'll get to meet them later. Are those all the questions?"

"Why are you single!" One girl blurted out.

Julius blushed again, causing the girls to giggle again. "I haven't been focused on dating, only on my studies."

"Too bad." Another whined.

"If that is all, then I will be taking my leave now." Julius bowed then turned and left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

The moment Alice entered her room she tossed her carry on bag on her bed, grabbed her soap and hair things and ran into the bathroom. After a quick hot shower she dried off and dressed in her sweats and a loose fitting t-shirt. With muscles now relaxed and most of her jet lag gone the laptop was set up and she began to put her things away.

Buried beneath her bags was a uniform provided by the school. A green, gold, and black plaid skirt that reached her knees, a white long sleeve button up shirt, tie with the same plaid design, white knee high socks and black Mary Janes.

She lay the clothes out for Monday and went to check her computer.

**ONE GROUP CHAT INVITE**

**Lorina Liddell**

**Dad and Karen**

Alice logged in and opened her chat window.

Lorina and Karen called out her name in unison. How late was it for her stepmother? It must have been well past midnight!

"Are you all settled in?"

Alice nodded.

"Tell us about your school, Alice!" Lorina grinned broadly on the screen.

"Well it's really big. It has twelve buildings, most are dedicated to the different departments of the school. Others are for the students. I'm in the Clover Dorms. Mr. Gowland said it was the more intellectual of the dorms and at one point was made up of nothing but nobility and those of high ranks."

"That's great Hunny!" Karen smiled at her stepdaughter. "Well, I have to go. It's really late here. Your father sends his love!" She blew her computer camera a kiss and logged off, leaving the two girls alone.

"Julius-san said that there are busses available to take me to Tokyo so we can meet up on the weekends. We just have to leave as a group."

"Same here," the elder sister nodded. "Shall we try for two weeks from today?"

"Hopefully I'll have this all figured out by then."

"Good. See you then, Alice!" The sisters waved at each other and both logged off.

With that over, Alice pulled her hair up into a messy wet ponytail and went downstairs into the commons, surprised to find it empty of all but two people. One had silver/gray hair that barely brushed his shoulders and the other had very dark blue, almost black hair. They seemed to be arguing over something.

Curious, Alice approached. "Hello." She smile at them nervously. "I'm Alice Liddell."

The two looked up at her. The silver haired boy was the first to break out into a smile. "Oh yeah! Alice Liddell from Palmyra, New York, right?" His slight German accent added an odd kind of charm to him. He stood and offered his hand, shaking her happily. "I am Nightmare Gottschalk. The main representative of the Clover Dorm."

The second man stood and shook her hand as well. "Gray Ringmarc. I am originally from Slovenia. But my parents moved to Germany when I was very young."

"I take it you're a representative too?"

Gray nodded. "There are three of us. Nightmare, Julius, and I. Julius and I were on the bus. I saw you sit next to him."

"Oh yeah! Now I recognize you!" Alice smiled and straightened a little. "So what are you two doing?"

"We're talking about arranging a group to go to Tokyo two weeks from today. Would you be interested?"

"Sure! It would give me a chance to see my sister!"

"Great! We'll add you to the list." Gray nodded and started to write her name down on in a notebook.

"Do you think we could drag Julius to some karaoke?" Nightmare looked over Gray's shoulder to the list and frowned at the lack of names.

"Not unless we get Ace to drag him on the bus and don't tell him what we're doing. Who knows? We may managed to pull him away from his studies long enough for a group date."

"So that makes four boys and one girl. This will be fun." He rolled a single eye.

"My sister might be willing to join us." Alice supplied.

"Great!" Nightmare grinned. "Do you think she could get some of the girls from her school to join?"

"I hope so. Let me ask her later. She's still getting settled in at her school."

"Alright then! We need three more girl, so she only needs to invite two." Gray nodded again. "Let's hope this group date is more successful than last year."

"Yeah, let's not repeat that. I don't want to be suspended."

"What happened last year?"

". . . We don't really remember." Gray shrugged and crossed his arms.

"But somehow it ended with Mr. Gowland having to bail us out of jail. He said we were arrested for misconduct."

"I think he also said Ace got us dragged into a fight? Let's just hope that with Julius coming along this time he'll be able to control him!"

"Agreed!"

Ace was suddenly beginning to feel like more of a loose canon than she originally thought.


	5. Chapter 5

After her encounter with Gray and Nightmare, Alice decided to explore the school while she could. However, without a map it didn't take long for her to get herself more than a little turned around.

"Who'd have thought that this school would be so complicated? And the buildings are larger than I thought." She sighed. "How do I get back to Clover Dorm?"

"Excuse me mademoiselle, but you are in my way."

Alice turned to face the raven headed man behind her. "S-sorry!" She then stepped away from the door.

"Thank you." He then entered and came out a moment later, adjusting his blue, purple, and green plaid tie with a yellow envelope under his arm. "You're still here?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah. I'm a little lost. Do you know the way back to the Clover Dorms from here?"

The man nodded and gave her a slight bow. "I am Blood Dupre. The Dorm Leader for the Spade Dormitories."

_Blood? Who names their kid Blood?!_ "Alice Liddell." Alice returned the bow, hiding her slight grimace as best she could.

Blood motioned for her to follow and took off down a hall. "Nightmare should take better care of his new arrivals. Why don't you have a map?"

"I forgot to ask and when I went to the office it was closed."

Nodding solemnly to himself, he responded again. "The office closes around this time on the weekends. It should have been open longer because of the new arrivals. But I suppose the secretary was sick." He reached into his pocket and produced a map. "Take mine and mark your classes. I'll get a new one from the office."

"Thanks!"

They stepped out of the building and onto the pavement. "The center building hosts the dormitories. Just follow the green rug branching off to the left. I'm sure you can find your way from there."

Alice nodded and bowed again. "Thank you for your help."

Blood returned the bow. "You better hurry up. The Dorm Representatives will be handing out your schedules soon." He adjusted his hold on the envelope and took off down a hall to the right with a red rug.

Smiling to herself, Alice walked down the hall with the green rug and back to the commons.

"There you are," came Julius's abrupt voice the moment she stepped in and a small envelope was handed to her. "This is your schedule."

"I thought these weren't going to be passed out yet."

"As always, the Clover Dorm is ahead of the others. We work to excell at everything. And that includes getting students ready to face school."

"Thanks Julius-san." Alice smiled again and bowed before making her way up the steps to her room.


End file.
